Tekken 5: The Emerging of Asuka Kazama
by Trina1980
Summary: This is Tekken 5 focusing only on Asuka Kazama's storyline. Since Asuka has pretty much become a side character, I felt like I should try to tell her story as I see it.


Tekken 5: The Emerging of Asuka Kazama

Asuka breathed in the fresh air as she gazed down at the rooftops of the buildings from the seat of her bicycle. She was sitting on top of the famous Tsuutenkaku building looking for the perfect spot to begin her descent. This was her favorite spot to visit after school. She loved watching the birds fly past her as the wind blew through her hair, and the view of the city was spectacular. She knew that these adrenaline fueled stunts would one day be the death of her, but she was always so bored that she pretty much welcomed anything that got her blood pumping. Once she spotted the nearest rooftop she took a deep breath and pushed off with her right foot and propelled herself from the rooftop and landed on the first surface below. She rode across that rooftop and began hopping from rooftop to rooftop in quick succession. As she neared the ground she spotted a kitten about to fall off of an awning. She maneuvered her bike towards the kitten and managed to grab it with her right hand before her bike made contact with the ground. She used her left hand to gracefully arc the bike into a quick stop in the middle of the street.

She checked on the kitten to make sure that it wasn't hurt. It was really skittish for a few seconds, but it calmed down immediately when she started petting it. She looked at how tiny the kitten was and wondered how it even got up there in the first place. It didn't look mature enough to be able to climb that high. As she sat on her bike petting and soothing the kitten, a group of rowdy teenagers passed by and the kitten started clinging to her sweater. She figured the teenagers were the ones responsible for putting the helpless little animal up on that awning. She started to follow them and give them a "lesson" on how to treat small animals. Since she didn't actually see them put the kitten up on the awning and she needed to head home anyway, she decided against it. She put the kitten down and got on her bike. She was about to leave when she heard the kitten start to meow in a very loud and high pitched voice at her. That kitten had a surprisingly strong set of pipes. She got off of her bike and looked at the kitten. The kitten walked up to her and started purring and arching it's back against her leg. She sighed and then reluctantly picked the kitten up and said "You win." She held the kitten in one hand and rode home using the other hand to steer.

Asuka and Yuna (the kitten's new name), arrived at home 10 minutes later. Asuka looked down at Yuna and said "Wait here, I've got some emotional blackmailing to do." She went inside and looked around for her father. She saw a letter addressed to her on the dining room table and reached for it. She very rarely received mail, so she wondered what it could be. It was an invitation to the fifth King of Iron Fist Tournament. She knew that only the best martial artists in the world were invited to this tournament and now she was being invited; this was a really big deal. While she was standing there pondering the possibilities, her father walked into the room and greeted her. She greeted him back and excitedly told him about her invitation to the King of Iron Fist tournament. This announcement caused him to furrow his brow "I'm not okay with you going to this event, it could be dangerous." he said.

"I've competed in many martial arts competitions and I've won all of them...easily" Asuka retorted.

"You were competing against girls who were in your weight class. In the King of Iron Fist tournament there are no restrictions on the type of opponents that you could end up with. You could end up fighting men who are three times your size, grizzly bears or even a cyborg" her father argued.

"It's not like it's a death match. There are plenty of young girls who have competed and come back to compete again" Asuka responded.

"And then there are those who don't come back. I told you about what happened to my sister. And she had a lot more common sense than you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Asuka replied angrily.

"Are you raising your voice at me?" he said with a stern look.

"Sorry." she responded. She knew not to challenge that look.

"You remind me of Jun in so many ways. You look like her, you both share a lot of the same beliefs and you're an excellent fighter just like she was. But Jun was peaceful and she actually had some common sense. You, on the other hand, are reckless, arrogant and you have a quick temper. Jun went to that tournament and then she disappeared for seven years without any communication. Then, while you were still a toddler she pops up out of nowhere to visit for a few days. She wouldn't say where she was staying and she wouldn't talk about what happened at the tournament. I knew that she was keeping something from me, but I couldn't make her tell me what it was. She thought that you were absolutely adorable and she said that you were going to grow into a great fighter and that you would have many other gifts. She disappeared again and after nearly ten years with no communication I found out she was dead, killed by some creature called Ogre. Ogre targeted many other fighters from that tournament as well. I don't have any way of confirming it, but I know that the Mishima's are somehow responsible for what happened to her. I am aware of the fact that they only invite the best martial artists in the world, and it is a huge honor for you to be invited. But I do not want you to go to this tournament. With your mom and my sister gone, you are the only family I have left" her father concluded.

"Okay, I won't go." She said, defeated. He brought up her mom and her aunt (the big guns), he must mean business.

"...What? That went down a little too easily for me to feel comfortable" her father responded not sounding very convinced.

"I mean it. The fact that they invited me means they think that I'm one of the best in the world, that's good enough...for now. Also, there was something else that I wanted to talk to you about." she said smiling a little too brightly for it be genuine considering the circumstances.

"Does it have anything to do with that kitten that has been persistently meowing and scratching outside my front door?"

"That's my new friend, Yuna."

After Asuka fed and cleaned up Yuna, she folded up an old blanket to serve as a bed for her. Yuna ignored the little bed and climbed onto and stretched out on Asuka's bed. Asuka looked at her and said "That's my bed; I just made you your own bed." Yuna looked up at her and yawned before she got even more comfortable. Asuka sighed and then rolled her eyes, "Fine, you win again. But you will respect me...one day." Asuka picked up the tournament invitation and looked at it one last time before she balled it up and tossed it at Yuna. Yuna jumped up and started batting the piece of paper around. After that Asuka changed into her martial arts gi and headed over to the family dojo.

Around the house her father was pretty easy going, but at the dojo he was all business and he pushed her harder than the rest of his pupils. When Asuka's mother passed away, shortly before high school started, the dojo served as a distraction for both her and her father. Asuka buried herself in her training. The dojo was the one place where she truly felt like she belonged. She didn't have any problems fitting in at school; she was actually fairly popular. However, she always felt that the popularity she experienced at school was odd, almost as if her peers couldn't help but like her. She didn't have to question her status at the dojo, because that respect had been legitimately earned.

After that evening's class was over, she was exhausted. She knew that she would sleep well that night...except she didn't. She kept waking up in the middle of the night because Yuna kept going to sleep on her neck. Apparently the sound of her pulse was very soothing to Yuna; at least that's what a web search told her. Yuna was already treating her like a mama cat; she had to admit that "Mama Kazama" had a nice ring to it.

The following morning was rough, but she managed to drag herself out of bed and get to school on time. It was a rainy day and she was really sleepy, so the school day went by extra slow. Asuka was relieved when her last class finally ended. If she hurried home she could get in a quick nap before going to the dojo.

After a not so quick nap Asuka realized that she had overslept and was late for her father's class. Her father was going to be mad at her since she was supposed to be setting an example for everyone. When she arrived at the dojo, she saw that the police were there and several of the students were being treated for minor injuries while an ambulance was leaving. She also noticed that the dojo had been trashed. Where was her father? One of the students called out to her "Kazama Sensei!"

Asuka turned her attention to the student and asked "What happened?" The student told her that a scary looking man came to the dojo asking about something that he called the God Fist scrolls.

"Kazama Shihan didn't know what he was talking about" the student said. "Then the strange man attacked without warning. The two of them fought for a while, Shihan fought well, but the other man managed to distract your father long enough to knock him back first into that beam." The student indicated a thick beam that was had been broken. Her father's back went through that beam? "We tried to jump in and help, but we were instructed to not get involved. We joined in anyway once Shihan lost consciousness, but we were no match for the stranger. Once he was done fighting he started looking around, pulling out things and breaking things as he looked for the scrolls. When he didn't find them, he finally left." Asuka felt terrible. While this was happening she was sleeping, when she should have been there to defend the dojo. There's no way that man could have taken on her and her father at the same time.

Asuka finally asked "Where is my father?"

"He was rushed to the hospital; he was unconscious when they took him away." the student said.

"Does anyone know the name of the man who did this?" Asuka asked.

"No one in the dojo recognized him, but maybe the police know something" the student said as one of the officers came over to speak to Asuka.

"How did you manage to not get hurt?" The officer said.

"I just got here" Asuka said. "My name is Asuka Kazama; the owner of the dojo is my father."

"Kazama, huh?" "Are you any relation to Jun Kazama?" the cop asked.

"She was my aunt, but I never actually knew her" Asuka said.

"My name is Lei Wulong, and I had the pleasure of meeting her at the second King of Iron Fist tournament; she was an amazing fighter. I was really sad when I heard about her passing."

Asuka didn't feel like engaging in small talk, she wanted to know who was responsible for what happened at her father's dojo. "Do you know who attacked my father, Mr. Wulong?"

"Based on the descriptions that we received from eye witnesses, this was done by a man named Feng Wei. He has vandalized several dojos recently. His rampage started in China where he murdered his instructor and ransacked the dojo looking for the God Fist scrolls. He's basically been going from dojo to dojo looking for those scrolls, and I've been tracking him."

"Are you close to catching him?" Asuka asked.

"Yes, I'm very confident that I'll be able to bring him in; I found out from a source of mine that he's been invited to the King of Iron Fist tournament which I have also been invited to attend. While I'm there I'll be tracking down Mr. Wei, so don't worry, I've got everything under control. You just worry about your father."

When Asuka arrived at the hospital her father was asleep. 'What kind of human being would do this to an old man?' she thought as she looked at his bruised face. The nurse told her that he had been given a sedative, and that he would be out for the rest of the night. She told her to go home and get some rest and he would be awake in the morning.

The next morning Asuka went back to the hospital to see how her father was doing. When she arrived he was awake. His face was so swollen he could barely open his eyes. He was trying to act like he wasn't in pain, but every now and then Asuka saw him wince slightly. He was worried about the dojo since it was their primary source of income. Asuka assured her father that the dojo would be fine and that she would clean it up and lead the classes while he was recovering. She kept her voice level despite the fact that she was genuinely worried about him and she was bordering on tears. Her father looked as if he wanted to tell her something, but he was hesitating. When she wouldn't stop asking him what was wrong, he finally gave in and told her that he couldn't feel his lower body. His back was knocked into a wood beam and he blacked out after that. His spine was still really badly swollen; they wouldn't know whether or not the paralysis would be permanent until the swelling went down. Asuka felt her eyes warm and then well up with tears; she didn't want to break down in front of her father so instead of expressing sadness she let herself get angry. She told him that she would find the man responsible for this and make him pay. Her father asked her not to get involved and to let the police do their job. She saw that he was getting worked up, which wasn't good in his condition. She slowly counted to ten in her head and unclenched her fists (she had actually learned a thing or two from those mandatory anger management classes). There was no sense in worrying him. She was mad at herself for not being there; if she had been there instead of sleeping this would never have happened. She knew there was nothing that she could do for him here. She promised that she would straighten up the dojo and handle all of the evening classes until further notice.

When Asuka got home she figured the best way to get her mind off of her father's situation would be to straighten up the dojo. She cleaned the dojo from floor to ceiling and she still didn't feel any better. She came back to the house and sat down and thought about what she was going to do. Then Yuna came dashing into the room. She jumped up on Asuka's lap and Asuka started petting her. It wasn't long before Yuna started batting at Asuka's hands. Asuka wasn't really in the mood to play so she put Yuna back on the floor. Yuna ran off and a minute later she came back into the room batting around a balled up piece of paper. Asuka stared at the balled up piece of paper and picked it up off of the floor and straightened it; it was the tournament invitation. She stared at it for a long time before she made her decision.

She went online and confirmed her acceptance of the invitation. Before she would be officially invited to the Mishima estate she would have to fight in a preliminary match. The venue would be at her school but she wouldn't find out who her opponent was until the day of the match. It wouldn't be the first time she fought at her school, but at least she wouldn't get detention this time. The preliminary match would be in a month and the main tournament would be two weeks after that.

During the month before her first match, Asuka lead the classes at the dojo. This wasn't too much of a challenge for her; she enjoyed bossing everyone around. After class she trained really hard, sparring with some of the best students in the class who were looking to get some free extra time on the mat and she did a lot of technique and conditioning exercises on her own. She had never in her life trained this hard for a tournament. Her father, to her relief, slowly began to regain the feeling in his lower limbs and was quickly recovering. Things were looking up, but it didn't dull her focus. Feng Wei was going down.

The day of her preliminary match arrived. It was going to take place right after school in the schoolyard, which was perfect because she wouldn't have to alter her daily routine much at all. She wanted to make sure that she didn't do anything that would indicate to her father that she was up to something. She knew that he would be upset with her when he found out what she was up to, but she didn't want him to find out until after the tournament, preferably after defeating Feng Wei.

Since Asuka was eager to find out who her opponent was, the school day dragged by really slowly. Finally classes were over and she got her stuff together and headed out to the schoolyard. There was a tournament organizer there to observe, record and explain the rules of the match. After the rules were explained to her, Ling Xiaoyu walked into the schoolyard. So this was her opponent. Ling was a year ahead of her and she didn't really know much about her aside from the fact that she was escorted around the school every day by a panda, which was really odd. Ling walked over to her and shook her hand and said, "Good luck, you're going to need it for my Panda."

'What?' Asuka thought. "I'm not fighting you?"

"No, I already won my preliminary match, I'm in." "I'm just here to provide my panda with emotional support."

It was at that moment that she looked to the side and saw the panda giving her the most menacing look that a big fluffy panda could muster up. 'You're not scaring anyone with that look,' she thought. Other students started gathering around in the schoolyard and cheering. Well, she was going to give them a show. The panda was huge, but she would use that panda's strength against it, just like her father always taught her. That was the Kazama way.

Asuka was in a really good mood when she came home that evening (poor Panda). Yuna came running towards her enthusiastically when she walked through the door and Asuka picked her up and gave her a hug and petted her before putting her down. It was official; she was going to the King of Iron Fist tournament in two weeks. She figured she'd warm up a little before it was time to start class. So after feeding Yuna she went to her room and changed into her gi and started to head over to the dojo. Her father ran into her before she got out of the house. "Asuka, have a seat I need to talk to you." She got a little nervous when he said that. She started sweating and she wondered how much he knew. "I'm feeling much better and I'm going to start gradually leading the classes again; I should transition back to my old schedule in about two weeks." His timing couldn't have been more perfect, that way she wouldn't have to worry about closing the dojo while she was gone. "Also, I've noticed that you've been training a lot harder than usual." Oh no, she was busted... "I know this situation hasn't been easy for you and I'm glad that you've found a constructive outlet for your frustration." 'What..?' she thought to herself. "I am very proud of you. The dojo looks great and you did an excellent job of leading the classes while I was recovering. I've heard nothing but good things about you and your 'take charge attitude.' And I appreciate your obeying me in letting the police go after the man who attacked our dojo; that took a lot of maturity." Asuka felt a deep stab of guilt after that last comment.

"Thanks...I'm going to head over to the dojo and warm up before class now." She had to get out of there before she broke down and revealed something. She was on a mission and she wasn't going to stop until she saw it through. Two more weeks...

When Asuka arrived at the Mishima estate a few heads turned to look at her. This was her first year competing, so some of the other fighter's took a moment to size up the fresh competition that just walked in. Asuka didn't let it bother her. She was invited to this event, so as far as she was concerned she was just as good as everyone else until they proved her wrong in the arena. Her brow furrowed, by now her father had most likely found her note and knew that she and Yuna were gone. She hoped that she was doing the right thing. Once she checked in, fed Yuna and got settled, she would explore. She had five matches tomorrow night and she needed to spend the remainder of her time getting ready.

Asuka was exploring the estate and was impressed at how luxurious the place was. She located the pool, the weight room and the dojo; she made mental notes of where those places were located. She was tempted to go straight back to her room and change into her gi so she could go back down to the dojo and train. But she decided to look around some more before heading back to her room. She turned into an empty hallway full of art. On one wall there were pictures of the winners of past King of Iron Fist tournaments. The winner of the first tournament appeared to be a relatively young looking man, although it looked like he had lived a rough life. He had a scowl on his face and cold dark eyes with thick eye brows and dark brown hair. She leaned in closer and read his name, Kazuya Mishima. She looked at the second picture and saw a picture of an old man who was bald on top and had white hair on the sides of his head. She also noted that he had the same scowl and cold dark eyes as the man in the first picture. She looked at the name, Heihachi Mishima. They must be father and son she thought. She looked at the third and fourth picture on the wall and saw pictures of the same young man twice. He bore a very strong resemblance to the man in the first picture except his features weren't quite as rough. "These Mishimas much train really hard to win every year and keep all of their wealth within the family." She said to herself. Kazuya and Heihachi had to be really proud of him. Winning the tournament two times in a row is no small task, she thought to herself. She started to lean forward to read the name of the third/fourth winner of the King of Iron First tournament...

As Asuka leaned forward she heard and felt someone whisper in her ear "Are you one of the fighters?" Asuka nearly jumped out of her skin. She spun around and saw a prissy looking girl about her age with blond hair and blue eyes laughing hysterically. As soon as Asuka calmed down enough to speak, her eyes got really wide and intense. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" she yelled. "Why did you sneak up on me like that?!"

"You were so busy staring at the pictures that you didn't hear me walking down the hall" the girl responded way too calmly for Asuka's liking.

"You didn't have to whisper in my ear; you scared me on purpose." Asuka said.

"Well...I was standing right behind you and you didn't even know I was there, so I thought it would be funny."

"Funny?" Asuka said.

"Yeah...I laughed" the girl replied. Asuka looked at her incredulously. Then the girl said "It looks like we might have gotten off on the wrong foot." "My name is Emilie De Rochefort, what's yours?" she asked.

"Asuka"

"You can call me Lili, that's what my friends call me" Asuka was still a little annoyed at her for having a laugh at her expense. Lili held out her hand and said, "It's nice to meet you."

Asuka reluctantly reached out and shook her hand. Lili's smile brightened a little while they shook hands.

"So... are you a fighter?" Lili asked.

"Yes."

"Me too. Are you still in high school?"

"Yep."

"Me too. Is this your first year competing?"

"Uh huh."

"Wow, me too! We have so much in common" Lili said. "If you don't already have a sparring buddy, did you want to be my sparring buddy?" Lili asked. Asuka lifted her eyes upward to think about that for a moment. Despite the fact that Lili nearly scared her to death and had a good laugh at her expense, she seemed friendly enough. And sparring with an actual partner (an iron fist competitor) instead of a training dummy would benefit her more. She started to answer yes, but when she lowered her eyes back down to Lili's she caught her giving her a not so subtle once over with her eyes. Asuka had gotten that look enough times to know what it meant. Although she usually got that look from boys in her high school, or...some faculty members, aaaand a few dads from the PTA. Lili was smiling at her and waiting for a response.

Asuka didn't want to be rude so she told a little lie instead. She said "I would, but I already have a sparring buddy."

"Really? Already?" Lili asked.

"Yes" Asuka said.

"What's their name?" Lili asked.

"Um...you don't know him, but he's really good" Asuka said.

"How do you know I don't know him? What's his name?"

Asuka needed to get away. She looked over Lili's shoulder and then pointed. "Oh my goodness, is that THE Heihachi Mishima over there?!" Lili turned to look and Asuka took that opportunity to start walking away very briskly.

Lili called after her "Where are you going?"

Asuka called over her shoulder "I just remembered that I have a thing that I need to do right now."

Lili called after her "Maybe we could meet later, will you give me your room number?"

This girl couldn't take a hint; Asuka was done being polite. She yelled over her shoulder "Nope!"

Asuka started to head back to her room but then she heard her stomach growl. It might be a good idea to have a light meal before practicing. She started to head towards the onsite restaurant. As she walked over to the bar to place a quick order she noticed Emilie walking into the restaurant. She wasn't in the mood for another awkward conversation and she was sure that it wasn't a coincidence that she showed up there the same time as her. So looked around and quickly ducked into the nearest closet. "Who are you hiding from?" She heard a male voice say from behind her. She barely stifled the urge to scream. She turned around and frantically reached around for a light switch, but couldn't find it. When the light came on she saw a man with auburn hair and what looked like motorcycle riding gear. He was holding a string dangling from a light bulb "Looking for this?" he said. "Who are you hiding from?"

"What would give you the impression that I'm hiding from someone?" she replied as nonchalantly as possible given the circumstances.

"Unless you intentionally followed me in here...?" he said grinning as he looked into her eyes.

"I'm hiding from a creepy blond girl named Emilie" she replied flatly. "Who are you hiding from?" she asked.

"Was there a girl with pig tales named Ling out there when you walked in?"

"Ling Xiaoyu?"

"Yeah, how do you know her?"

"She goes to my high school and she's escorted around by a panda every day." "You can relax though; I didn't see her when I came in."

"Good."

"Ex-girlfriend?" Asuka asked.

"No, nothing like that." "She's been pestering me about an acquaintance of mine."

"Are you a fighter?" Asuka asked.

"Yep, it's my third year competing." "What about you?" "Are you one of the new comers?" He asked.

"Yeah." she answered. "Do you have a training buddy?" she asked.

"No, I don't." He said.

"Did you want to train with me?" Asuka asked.

"Sure, why not."

"My name's Asuka, by the way." "What's yours" she asked.

"Hworang." "Did you want to eat first? That's what I came in here for before I ran into Ling."

"Can you look out there and see if Emilie is out there first?"

"Sure, what does she look like?"

"Prissy, blond, Lolita looking girl."

He walked over to the door and opened it a little to peak out. Asuka took this opportunity to check him out. By the time her eyes went back up to his head, she saw that he was looking at her. Busted... "I don't know if I'm comfortable with you looking at me like that." Hworang said with a cocky smirk on his face. Asuka felt her cheeks turn red. She opened her mouth to try to come up with a quick excuse for not so subtly checking him out. He held up a hand to silence her and said "It's okay, I tend to have this effect on women." Her expression went from embarrassed to incredulous.

"Excuse me?" she said.

"I get it; you couldn't help yourself." he said.

"I think you might be going a tad bit overboard here, you're...okay..."

"Is that so? Maybe we should get another woman's opinion." He stepped out of the closet and looked around. Then he yelled "Hey you. Is your name Emilie?" Asuka's eyes grew large and her mouth dropped open and she started shaking her head.

"Yes, it is. Do I know you?" Asuka heard Emilie say.

"Can you come over here for a minute please? A friend of mine and I are trying to settle an argument." Hworang said.

"I don't have time to participate in a silly argument." she said.

Asuka looked relieved. Then Hworang said "I'm so sorry for bothering you, Asuka and I will ask someone else."

Asuka heard Emilie say "Asuka's over there?"

Hworang smirked at Asuka and said "Yep." If looks could kill, Asuka's death glare would have killed Hworang instantly. A moment later Asuka saw Emilie's head peeking into the closet.

"What are you doing in here?" She glanced over at Hworang and continued "with him?"

Hworang smiled and said "If you have to ask, it might time for you to have 'the talk.'" Both Asuka and Emilie's eyes went wide. "Anyway" Hworang continued "Can you help settle this? Do you find me attractive?" Hworang asked.

"No" Emilie said flatly without hesitating. He could tell by the way that she was looking at Asuka that he picked the wrong girl to settle this argument.

"Thank you for settling that." he said. "Now if you'll excuse us, Asuka and I were about to go eat and then we've got some sparring to do." Hworang said.

"Spar? This is your sparring partner?" Emilie said.

"Yep." Asuka said. At that Emilie walked off.

"You're welcome." Hworang said.

"For what? Humiliating me?" Asuka asked.

"I got rid of Emilie, didn't I?"

"I suppose" Asuka said.

"Exactly. Now are we eating or what?"

The host seated them and they ordered. While they waited for their food Asuka told Hworang about the situation at her father's dojo and how she was there looking for Feng Wei. She also told him about how she was a "mediator" and how she often got into fights at school or in the street. Then the food arrived and they continued their conversation as they ate.

"You remind me of myself in a lot of ways." Hworang began. When I was a teenager I used to get into trouble all the time for fighting in street tournaments and gambling. When I entered the third King of Iron Fist Tournament, like you, I was trying to avenge a father figure of mine. My mentor, Baek Doo San, disappeared and I was told that he was killed by a creature called Ogre. They said that Ogre was targeting Iron Fist competitors. I entered the third King of Iron Fist tournament figuring it was the best shot I had at finding Ogre. I lost in semifinals; it was a huge disappointment to me. The guy that won that year, an acquaintance of mine, ended up fighting and killing Ogre. After the competition was over I found out that Baek was still alive. He had been attacked by Ogre and badly beaten. The reason why no one could find him was because he was in a coma for over a year."

"The important thing is that Ogre got what he deserved; my aunt was murdered by him. Her name was Jun Kazama; she was also a competitor in the second King of Iron Fist Tournament." Asuka said.

"Your aunt's name was Jun Kazama? Are you related to Jin Kazama?" Hworang asked.

"Nope, I've never met him and my father has never mentioned him to me."

"Oh well, I suppose Kazama is a pretty common name."

After they finished eating Asuka and Hworang went back to their respective rooms and changed into their sparring gear and then met in the dojo. After they both warmed up and stretched, Asuka and Hworang faced each other.

"Don't hold anything back." Asuka said.

"Yeah, yeah." Hworang responded. Hworang started off with a flashy string of kicks. Asuka was dazzled by the speed and ease of his kicking. She was so distracted that he was able to spin around into a low reverse hook kick and knock her foot out from underneath her, sending her to the mat with a thud. "You're barely enough for a warm up." Hworang said. His smugness immediately brought Asuka back to her feet.

"You asked for it" was her response. They faced each other again and Hworang began another string of kicks, but this time he ended the string with a high reverse hook kick...big mistake. Asuka parried the kick and in one smooth motion she brought his torso to the mat. She leaned over him and said "You're all show."

"Shut up already" he said as he stood back up. They faced each other again. This time Asuka attacked first. She did a sweep into a back fist and punch combination, Hworang grimaced when she did that combination; then she did a double lifting kick which he just barely avoided since he seemed to be distracted. He went into his flamingo stance and she knocked him off of his one leg with a vicious low sweep.

"You might fare better if you keep your mind in the dojo; it looked like you went away for a second." Hworang stood up before he responded.

"I know we just met today, but this fight has a very Deja Vu feel to it."

"If you've seen it before, you shouldn't be going down so easily." They faced each other again. As soon as they started, he immediately went for a low sweep and knocked her onto the mat.

"I think I just figured out how to beat you. I'll just attack your ankles." They went back and forth like this for twenty minutes.

Asuka finally said "One more round and I'm calling it quits for the night." They faced each other for the last time and started fighting. Hworang did a 1-2 punch but is fist accidentally grazed her chest and then his eyes, as if they suddenly developed free will, lingered on her chest. She took advantage of this distraction and grabbed him by his sleeve and collar, then

turned her hip into him and flipped him onto the mat. She stood over him and said "And that's the lesson for the day."

They chatted as they walked to the elevator together. They rode the elevator together and got off at their respective floors and went back to their rooms. As soon as Asuka reached her room, she felt like she was being watched. She turned around quickly and scanned both sides of the hall, but didn't see anyone. She figured she was simply being paranoid and finally went inside. Asuka ordered dinner and had it sent up to her room. She ate, then fed Yuna, showered, put on her pajamas and went to sleep. She woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. She had a strange feeling like there was someone else in the room with her. She switched on her lamp and looked around, and then she listened. She heard nothing. She looked next to her and saw that Yuna was still knocked out. She figured if someone else was in the room, Yuna would be wide awake, so she shrugged off the feeling of uneasiness and quickly went back to sleep.

The next morning Asuka woke up feeling refreshed. She got out of bed, stretched and walked over to the closet to remove her bag. She opened the closet door, but her luggage wasn't in there. Asuka remembered putting her bag in the closet before she went to sleep. But she still looked around the room just to make sure she didn't put it anywhere else. After looking around she was able to conclude that her bag was missing. She thought about the night before and how she felt like someone was watching her in the hall. She also thought about when she woke up in the middle of the night; maybe there was someone else in the room when she woke up. She looked over at Yuna. "Seriously? You couldn't have warned me that someone was in the room last night?" Yuna looked at her then yawned and laid her head down and went back to sleep. She looked at her and said "You're lucky the thief left you your food." She also noted that the thief left her all of her money, her toiletries and a fresh change of underwear; which was surprisingly considerate for a thief. She tried calling the front desk to find out if anyone saw anything suspicious, but they kept giving her the runaround. She realized that she was going to have to go to the front desk to get someone to take this seriously. She wasn't looking forward to going to the front desk in her pajamas, but it didn't look like she had much of a choice.

Asuka could feel everyone's eyes on her as she spoke to the person at the front desk. They weren't able to pull up security footage of the luggage thief because the thief was able to temporarily disable the cameras. And no one reported anything or turned in any lost luggage. Just when she thought her morning couldn't get any more humiliating she heard a familiar voice.

"Asuka, why on earth are you in the lobby in your pajamas?" Emilie said.

Asuka grimaced and said "Someone stole my clothes." Asuka had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at Emilie's exaggerated shocked expression.

"Oh dear, that's unfortunate. Do you have anything to wear for the tournament?"

"No, not unless I compete in my pajamas." She might have to consider doing that, she thought. If she didn't fight, she'd get sent home tonight. And she needed time to find Feng Wei.

"I might have something that you can borrow. Come with me" Asuka hesitated, but she followed Emilie back to her room.

"I can't wear this outfit, if you can even call it an outfit." She wasn't sure what it was supposed to be. It looked like a motorcycle riding outfit but with the sleeves and the legs cut off.

"Why not? It's better than fighting in your Sailor Moon pajamas." Emilie added. Asuka pictured herself walking into the arena in her pajamas. It was not a pleasant thought. But she thought about walking in wearing that outfit and wondered if it would be any better. "Don't get me wrong, I think those pajamas are really cute on you, but do you really want to be known as 'Pajama Kazama'?" Asuka cringed at the thought of earning that nickname because she knew it would stick.

"I guess not." Asuka said. "You don't have anything else that I could borrow?"

"Nope." Emilie said flatly not trying to hide the amused grin on her face. She handed the outfit over to Asuka.

"Thank you, Emilie." Asuka said in a less than sincere sounding tone of voice.

"Oh, I think you can call me Lili now."

"Thank you, Lili" Asuka said sounding even less sincere and then she quickly left the room. When Asuka closed the door behind her, she wondered how Lili knew her last name. She intentionally avoided giving out her full name yesterday. She also noted that Lili didn't seem so shocked when she said her luggage had been stolen. She was beginning to think that she had figured out who had stolen her luggage. But she didn't have any proof and she didn't want to risk getting kicked out for fighting outside of the arena. Lili better hope that she doesn't have to face her in the ring, but Asuka had a feeling that Lili was actually hoping for the opposite.

Asuka went back to her room and changed into the outfit. She tried to zip up the front, but the zipper got stuck less than midway up. The zipper appeared to be damaged. "Great, just what I need." she said in frustration. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw that it wasn't as bad as she thought. It was open in the front, but it still covered up enough of her body...sort of... The more she looked at herself in the mirror, the more she started to feel like a badass. She could do this. She would make this work. She wasn't going to let a slight wardrobe malfunction stop her from finding Feng Wei. She took a deep breath, stood up straight, squared her shoulders and left her room to head for the arena.

Her first opponent was a kangaroo named Roger. When was she going to fight an actual human? Roger had fast hands...paws, but he didn't have much reach with his upper body. His legs and his tail however, were a bit of a problem for her. But when Roger started spamming lows, Asuka started blocking and parrying the lows and she made short work of him.

Her next opponent was a very large and scary looking robot named Jack 6 (still no human opponent). She wasn't sure how she was supposed to beat a robot. Jack promptly went into attack mode and began swinging his arms at her in a rapid windmill like fashion. Asuka back flipped away just barely avoiding his arms. She tried to low sweep him, but his foot wouldn't budge and she narrowly avoided his retaliation. She was able to slip behind him for a quick second and noticed a tiny button at the base of his neck. Was that what she thought it was? Asuka ducked and again narrowly avoided a strike from Jack's extremely long arms. He was strong, but not very fast she noticed. When he started doing what she was pretty sure was the Cossack dance, she circled around him and hit the button at the back of his neck. It was exactly what she thought it was; it was a reset button. Fight over.

Asuka's next opponent was Ling Xiaoyu. If she beat her she'd probably be doing Hworang a favor. At first Asuka was a little puzzled by Ling's tricky stances and movement. She was so eager to finish the fight quickly that she stumbled into a few of Ling's tricky setups and got knocked down a couple of times. She quickly recovered and was forced to fight a bit more patiently. After that it didn't take her too much time to find the weaknesses in Ling's offense and she was able to close out the match.

Asuka had an hour before her next match. She took this time to search the arena for Feng Wei. She went to all of the rings and saw no site of him. She decided to look at the schedule and see where and when his next match would be. She was lost in her thoughts until a deep voice whispered in her ear "Have you had any luck tracking down your nemesis?" She jumped and barely stifled a scream. It was Hworang, and he shamelessly enjoyed a good laugh at her expense. This was the third time that she had been scared like that; she needed to work on being aware of her surroundings. Then he appraised her appearance. "Interesting choice of wardrobe..."

"My clothes were stolen and I had to borrow this outfit." Asuka replied. "And to answer your first question, no I haven't seen him."

"So where did you get that outfit?"

She lowered her eyes. "Lili let me borrow it." she replied in a voice that was barely audible.

"Lili?" "Is that what you're calling her now?" "When did you get on a nickname basis with her?"

"When she let me borrow this outfit."

"Wow, nicknames and wearing each other's' clothes, that is adorable. I'm glad I told her the truth about the misunderstanding in the closet. I wouldn't want to get in the way."

Asuka's eyes went wide. "What!? You told her the truth?"

"I'm sorry, did you want people to think that you and I were..." Hworang trailed off.

"No! I just wanted her to think that. That lie was the one good thing that came out of that whole awkward interaction. When did you talk to her anyway?"

"I watched one of her matches and congratulated her on her win. Her fighting style is...odd. But she's pretty decent. You might want to check out one of her matches just in case you have to face her."

"I'll deal with her if the time comes, but I can't really talk right now. I've been all over this place and I haven't found Feng yet. I'm starting to think he isn't here."

"Well I'd love to stay and help you play detective, but I have a match in a few minutes. If I see you later let me know what you find." and then he ran off.

Asuka went up to the monitor to look at the schedule. Feng Wei had been disqualified. He hadn't even shown up for his first match. She let out a deep sigh and her shoulders slumped in disappointment. It had all been for nothing. She disobeyed her father and worried him for nothing. Then she stopped to think for a minute. Why would he enter the tournament and then not show up for even one match? Unless he came here under the pretense of competing so he could look for something else...like the God Fist scrolls... Where would he look for those? One place came to mind, the dojo.

When Asuka reached the dojo the place had been trashed. She found a wall had been disturbed which revealed a secret room. The room had a safe which had been opened. It looked like Feng Wei had been here and he'd most likely found what he was looking for and was long gone. So...that was it. He was gone and there was nothing she could do about it. "Kazama?!" She jumped and looked behind her and found Lei Wulong standing behind her. This was really taking its toll on her nerves. "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited, I'm one of the fighters" she said, but she knew what he really meant.

"Okay, but why are you HERE instead of at the arena? Does your father know that you're here?"

"I came here looking for Feng Wei; he didn't show up for his matches so I figured he'd be here and I was right. But I was too late it seems."

"Are you crazy?! What would you have done if he was here?! He could have killed you!" Lei yelled at her.

Whoa, hold up... Asuka was already upset at the fact that her father's attacker was long gone, but the only man who could raise his voice at her and get away with it was her father and... he was nowhere in sight. "Why did it take you so long to figure out that this is where he would've gone? You're supposed to be the detective, yet I figured out what his next move would be before you did. You assured me that you had everything under control, but you didn't. I DON'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN ANYTHING TO YOU!" And she stormed off as Lei stood there in stunned disbelief.

When she got back to the arena she was fuming. If she couldn't beat up her father's attacker, she would beat up whoever they put in front of her. It was at that moment that her next opponent walked in. His name was Sergei Dragunov, and she immediately felt sorry for him. She did unspeakable things to him and he hit the floor with a thud so loud that it echoed. There was so much adrenaline pumping through her veins that she was still moving around the ring. They told her that her next opponent was waiting for her but that they would give her a few minutes to rest for her next match. She was so keyed up that she didn't want to wait so she said "Come on! Next!"

Her final opponent for the night was a boxer named Steve Fox. He was really good at bobbing and weaving and he easily weaved away from her punches and he landed a few solid body shots when she was recovering. Asuka quickly picked up on what she was doing wrong and stopped attacking him so aggressively; she had to control her anger or she was going to lose this match. So she relaxed a bit and let him do the attacking. Every time he thought he was picking up a little momentum she would kill it, either with a well-timed counter (oh who was she kidding, she didn't even have to time them that well) or a quick jab or a low. He probably would've been more of a threat if he knew how to use his feet, but he didn't. Game over for him.

She was done for the evening and even though she did extremely well, it didn't make her feel any less upset about failing to find Feng Wei. She basically came here for nothing. She upset her father and she knew it would be a long time (if ever) before he trusted her again. Was there anything that she could do to make this alright with him? There probably wasn't. But she was here and she was going to make the most of it before she went home and faced the music. There was still a little time left before it got dark, she decided that she should take a walk. As she was beginning her walk she heard a familiar voice "Did you have any luck?"

She turned and saw Hworang. "No." She said trying to keep her voice level.

"What happened?" he asked.

Asuka decided that talking about it might ease her nerves. She told him about how she figured out where Feng went, and how she got there too late, and how she blew up at Lei Wulong for not getting there sooner. She was also worried because she knew her father was going to blow up at her when she got home. After she was done talking Hworang looked at her and said "The best thing you can do at this point is focus on the fact that you're still in the tournament and try to win it. It's going to be really hard for your father to stay mad at you if you win..."

"You're right." Hworang looked a little surprised that she agreed with him so easily. "Plan A was a miserable failure, so now it's time to move on to plan B, win." She then hastily added "Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize in advance just in case we face each other tomorrow and I have no choice but to beat the daylights out of you." Asuka said with a smirk. His expression indicated that her last response sounded more like her.

"Well, now that you have a renewed sense of purpose, can we eat now?"

When they reached the onsite restaurant Asuka's stomach started growling. Hworang looked at her in mock horror. She lifted one shoulder and said "I haven't really eaten much today so my stomach is protesting a little. That's life, deal with it." Once they were seated, they promptly placed their orders. As they waited for their food they talked about their matches and joked around. But when the food came they both ate in comfortable silence because they were both starving. Hworang was surprised at how much Asuka could eat. He looked away for a second and turned around just in time to see her trying to steal something off of his plate and he promptly slapped her hand. Boundaries...

After they finished eating, Asuka noticed that Hworang looked a bit distracted. Had he been like that the whole time and she was too preoccupied with her own problems to notice? "Is there something bothering you?" she asked. Hworang looked at her and let out a long breath.

"I'm concerned about a friend of mine." he finally said. "Well, actually I'm not sure if I can I call him a friend, more like an acquaintance..."

"Are we still talking about me? Because I thought we resolved that earlier."

"No, I'm not talking about you. Believe it or not, everything isn't about you."

"Anyway... What's wrong with your friend or whatever?"

"The first time we fought was in a street tournament, he was the only guy that I wasn't able to beat. We kind of developed a friendly rivalry after that. At the last King of Iron Fist tournament he was going through some weird changes, almost like he was sick or something, plus he was being really secretive. I saw him today at the arena and he seemed like he was doing better, but when I spoke to him there was something really off. I can't shake this feeling that something really bad is about to happen." his forehead was creased with worry as opposed to his usual nonchalance.

"Well, you don't really know the guy that well; you might be worrying for no reason." She hoped that would help, but it didn't get rid of the worry lines on his forehead. "Even if something is going on with him, you don't have a clue what it is and he's being really secretive, you might as well just wait it out. How bad could it be?" Asuka said and she reached out and gave his hand a light reassuring squeeze. When she looked up at his face she didn't see the worry lines and the look of nonchalance was back.

"You're right. Besides I've still got another day of competing ahead of me; I need to focus on that."

That always did the trick; sometimes people just needed a reassuring touch. It never worked the other way around for her though. She had the magic touch she supposed. "Good, because I'm too tired to try to solve your problem for you."

They walked to the elevators together and then parted ways when they got to their respective floors. Asuka fed and played with Yuna who had been lonely all day and was extra excited to see her. After that she took a long bath and went to bed. She was out as soon as her head hit the pillow and she slept hard.

The next morning she woke up completely refreshed with a sense of purpose. She fed Yuna and played with her for a while. Then she washed up and got dressed and went down to the restaurant for a light breakfast. Next she went straight to the dojo to warm up and stretch a little. Afterwards she headed over to the arena to see who her first opponent would be. When she arrived she ran into a very excited Lili. "You're my first match for the day! I can't wait!" Lili said. Asuka tried to act indifferent, but behind her nonchalant facial expression she wondered how good Lili was. After all, she also made it through yesterday's matches. She also remembered Hworang saying something about her being odd but really good. She wouldn't underestimate her, but she wasn't going to worry herself either.

When Asuka heard her name she stepped onto the mat and the crowd cheered enthusiastically for her. She didn't know that he had fans... but then they also cheered for Lili when she stepped onto the mat. Asuka assumed that they were just being polite when they cheered for Lili. When she faced Lili, Lili's stare was intense and unwavering and she had a pleased smile on her face. Was this one of her mind games? If it was, she was going to have to do better than that to get to her. When the match started Lili did a curtsey right in front of her. What...? Then with a sweeping upward motion she slapped Asuka across the face then did a quick back flip over Asuka's head, Asuka spun around just in time to catch two feet right in her chest. What. The. Hell? What kind of fighting was that? Gymnastics? Ballet? All of that flipping and twirling had to be tiring and disorienting, if time wasn't an issue she could just let her wear herself out. Asuka decided to move around a bit and simply observe for a little bit. Her moves were very confusing, but they were really linear. Asuka began to find her rhythm and she started to side step Lili's intricate strings. There was some back and forth action throughout the match but Asuka managed to get the KO.

After the match was over and Lili had a little bit of time to recover, she congratulated Asuka on her win. She assured her that there were no hard feelings and that Asuka could keep the outfit because it suited her so well. Before she left she said that hopefully they would get to face each other again one day. That made Asuka think, was this something that she would want to do again? She had to admit that she had been enjoying herself so far.

Her next opponent was a man named Bruce Irving. As they faced each other and assumed their fighting stances it looked like he was trying to bore a hole through her head with his intense stare. 'I bet this is how he intimidates most of his opponents' she thought to herself. 'Well he's going to have to do a lot more than just stare at me in order to win this match' she thought to herself showing no fear and glaring back at him. He threw a jab at her and she reversed it. When he recovered he tried throwing out a swift roundhouse to her face which she also reversed. The momentum was in her favor and she was starting to feel a bit more confident about this match. When he recovered she saw what looked like a ghost of a smile on his face. 'What was he so happy about? Did he know something that she didn't know?' she thought. When he was close enough to hit her again she saw his shoulder move and she anticipated another jab and started to reverse it, but instead his elbow connected with the side of her face. Her vision blurred and then she felt his arms go around her neck and he started kneeing the ribs on the right side of her body repeatedly. She felt an intense stab of paid and she freaked out a little bit; she had to get out of this hold. She managed to create just enough room to knee him in the groin. He released his grip on her and dropped down to his knees holding his groin. Asuka then did a thunder fall kick on him while he was down. The exertion caused another stab of pain. She tried to take a deep breath but that also hurt. She was pretty sure that she had a broken rib. She couldn't let him see, or he would exploit that weakness. She somehow found the strength to stand up straight even though she wanted to hunch over the injured rib. She threw a few jabs and connected with a strong roundhouse, but it wasn't enough to really hurt him. He through a fake to her right mid-section and she braced herself a little too much for the blow. His facial expression turned thoughtful before she saw that ghost of a smile on his face again...crap...he knew. He threw out a few swift kicks to her shins before he threw out a convincing fake to her right mid-section, when she lowered hand to protect her injured ribs he wrapped his arms around her neck and started kneeing her ribs again and she cried out in pain. She tried to pull away to knee him in the groin again, but he was ready this time. When she pulled away he nailed her in the jaw with a big uppercut which sent her flying back and she hit the mat with a thud. She was done.

The medical team came in and carefully placed Asuka onto a stretcher. As they carried her out of the ring she made eye contact with Bruce one last time and he gave her a slight nod of approval. She nodded back. 'It really is a universal nod' she thought. She appreciated the acknowledgment, but it didn't erase the fact that she had lost. When she reached the infirmary they gave her something for the pain and a light sedative.

When Asuka woke up, she was back in her room. She noticed that her luggage had been returned, how convenient. When she glanced over at the nightstand she noticed a bottle of prescription medicine with detailed instructions; there was also a light lunch and some water. She slowly and painfully sat up and looked around for Yuna, and saw her on the floor playing around. They must have fed her while she was out, otherwise that kitten would be screaming bloody murder right now. 'Wow, they're really thorough with their injured competitors she thought. She carefully ate her lunch making sure that she didn't move too much. Then she took another pain pill before dozing off again.

When Asuka woke up again it was night time and Yuna was once again asleep and purring on her neck. Her whole body was aching at this point. Her ribs were throbbing, her muscles were sore from the two days of fighting and now she had a stiff neck courtesy of Yuna. She slowly eased herself out of bed wincing at the pain. She put some food into Yuna's dish but it hurt too much to bend or squat down so she kind of just dropped the dish on the floor, spilling some of the food in the process. Yuna didn't seem to care as she dug into the food, 'Kittens are so easy to please' Asuka thought to herself. It was her last night here and she didn't want to spend it alone in her room so she somehow managed to find the strength to shower, put on some clothes and make herself somewhat presentable. She took another pain pill, grabbed an ice pack out of the freezer compartment of the mini fridge and headed out.

She went down to the restaurant and found that it was practically empty which was great because she got to choose where she wanted to sit. She opted for a window seat. She briefly glanced at the menu and set it down already knowing what she wanted. She looked out the window and admired the view of the estate in the moonlight. As she looked out the window she mentally evaluated everything that happened during that weekend. While she was lost in her thoughts she saw the reflection of a familiar face in the window. She turned around to see Hworang standing there. His face was badly bruised. He must have had a rough day as well she figured. His eyes pointed to the vacant seat across from her and she made a motion indicating that it was alright for him to join her. Right after he sat the waiter came by and took their orders. After their orders were taken they began chatting.

"So how did you do today?" Hworang asked.

"I beat Lili, but I lost to Bruce Irving."

"Judging by your appearance, you didn't put up much of a fight." he said as he studied her face.

Asuka turned her face so he could see the bruise on her jaw from where she was elbowed and then she indicated the ice pack that she was holding to her rib.

"Bruce fractured one of my ribs, so I may look okay on the outside, but I'm hurting on the inside. You, on the other hand, look awful." she said gesturing towards his face.

"If you think I look bad, you should see the other guy." Hworang said.

"Does the other guy look worse?" Asuka asked.

"Initially, he did. I thought that I had won…it was weird. I don't really want to go into detail; you'd think that I was crazy if I tried to explain."

"That would imply that I currently think that you're sane." Asuka said.

When the food arrived they dropped the subject and ate in comfortable silence. Once they were done eating and realized they were both too tired to move anytime soon their discussion picked up again. "Are you going to compete in the next tournament?" Hworang asked.

"I'm not sure." Asuka said with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Was it too much for you?"

"No, but I did enter this competition against my father's wishes. And the person that I came here to confront got away and I fractured my rib." She said with a soft frown. "On the other hand..." she began with a smile creeping on to her face "this has been the most exciting weekend of my life. Up until now, my life has been pretty dull. This is the first time that I ever lost at a tournament. I trained harder for this than any other tournament that I competed in and I still came up short."

"I know how you feel. I had specific reasons for entering the third Iron Fist tournament. But once it was all over, the knowledge that my instructor was alive and Ogre was dead wasn't enough for me. I actually ended up going AWOL while I was in the Korean military so I could compete in the fourth tournament. I sort of got into trouble for doing that, by the way. But once you've felt the rush of competing in a tournament of this caliber it's hard to walk away from it for good."

It was really late, so they both decided it was time to head back to their rooms. They chatted on way back to the elevator and Hworang told her he would say goodbye to her in the morning before he headed off. Then they parted ways again.

When Asuka reached her room she attempted to play with Yuna for a while but every movement was painful. She kicked Yuna's toys around the room a few times and watched her chase them around before she finally grabbed a fresh ice pack from the freezer and eased herself into bed. She thought about what she was going to do. Did she want to come back? Even if she wanted to, would it be an option? After this incident her father would no longer trust her and he'd be a lot more protective. She was too tired to figure out all of this at that moment, so she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

The next morning she woke up in pain. She took a pain pill and slowly dragged herself out of bed. She fed Yuna and then she showered and got dressed. She packed up all of her belongings and put Yuna in her carrier. She then called the front desk to get some help getting her luggage to the shuttle stop.

While she was waiting at the stop she noticed Lili's limo was leaving. 'Thank goodness for small miracles.' she thought to herself. Then she looked around for Hworang but didn't see him anywhere. She wondered if he had already left and she was disappointed at the thought. Then she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned and saw that it was Hworang. "So I guess this is it, will I be seeing you at the next tournament?" he asked.

"Most likely, but nothing is set in stone." Asuka replied.

"I'll take that as a yes." He said as he reached out with one arm and carefully hugged her making sure he didn't hurt her ribs.

Asuka winced a little bit from the slight motion it took for her to return the hug, but she quickly blocked out the pain so she could enjoy the brief moment. When he pulled away, he handed her a piece of paper. "I almost forgot; here's my email address, just in case you want to keep in contact. Bye." And then he turned and started walking towards his motorcycle.

As she watched him a walk away she thought to herself 'I'm definitely coming back.'

-The End.


End file.
